


This Restless Little Everything

by littlewagers



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: ADHD, Anorexia, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Bulimia, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dependent personality disorder, Depression, Eating Disorders, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jugvin, M/M, Narcissism, Paranoia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Schizophrenia, Schizotypal Personality Disorder, alternate universe - psych ward, archosie, beronica, binge eating, choni, histrionic personality disorder, orthorexia, psych ward au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:20:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29281362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlewagers/pseuds/littlewagers
Summary: Veronica is still the new girl. Archie is still the jock. Betty is still the good girl. Jughead is still the loner. They just meet differently.A Riverdale psych ward AU.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews/Josie McCoy, Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper & Kevin Keller, Betty Cooper/Veronica Lodge, Cheryl Blossom & Veronica Lodge, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Jughead Jones/Kevin Keller
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE heed the tags.

Betty woke up to screams. It took her a moment to realize that they were for once not her own. They belonged to Cheryl, the girl who lived across the hall. She always screamed around dawn. It had become Betty’s alarm clock throughout her seven weeks in the psych ward.  
She sighed, sitting up and checking the time on her soft-edged wall clock. 7:14. Later than usual. She looked through her thick-paned window. It was snowing, so the sky was darker than usual. That explained that.  
Betty rolled out of bed, wincing at the cold linoleum of the floor on her bare feet. She hurried out of her pajamas, shivering as she dressed in a long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, socks, and jeans--all pull-ons. No drawstrings, zippers, belts, or buttons for a self-harmer, especially ones with a history of homicidal tendencies like Betty.  
She still had--she checked the clock again--thirteen minutes before she’d be allowed to leave her room for anything but an emergency. She sighed and curled back under the blanket to keep warm.  
There wasn’t much to look forward to in the juvenile ward of the Riverdale Psychiatric Hospital. She was woken each day at seven-thirty, had breakfast until eight, took morning meds, and then had a free hour. Nine was group therapy, ten was private sessions, eleven was vital checks, and then lunch at noon. At one, the social workers evaluated when she could go home, which so far was never. At two, she had another free hour. At three was recreation, which was monitored closer than a rocket launch. At four, either someone who recovered lectured about compliance or she did schoolwork. Five was visitation, six was dinner, and seven was the closing therapy session. At eight, the final free hour begins, and at nine, she returns to her room, takes her night meds, and tries to sleep.  
And then she did it again the next day. Like she had been doing since fucking November. Over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. For almost two months.  
She closed her eyes.  
She was almost back to sleep when the orderly knocked on her door to tell her it was breakfastime.

“Did you hear?” Archie asked as he sat down with Betty and their friends, Jughead, Josie, Reggie, Toni, and Kevin. “There’s a new girl.”  
“Ooh! Dish,” Kevin said excitedly. “What does she look like? How old is she? Where’s she staying?”  
“Why don’t you ask her, Kev?” Archie replied, nodding in the direction of the doorway. A small Latina girl with defined features and black hair brushing her shoulders had just entered the cafeteria. She stood with false confidence in expensive loungewear, toying with the tab on her hoodie, which had the string removed.  
“She’s not suicidal,” Betty said. “She’s got a zipper.”  
“Drop it, Betts,” Jughead sighed. “You know the fight I had to go through to get my binder?”  
“Eating disorder,” Josie commented. “The nurses aren’t making her eat. They only do that on the first day, and only for ED admissions.”  
“But she’s eating,” Kevin argued.  
“Yeah, but they didn’t make her,” Betty pointed out. “They make Archie and I eat.”  
“They make us all eat,” Jughead said.  
“They don’t watch you,” Betty replied. She gestured towards the nurse standing by the wall with her eyes fixed on their table. Betty plastered a garish false grin across her face and took a huge bite of toast. The nurse rolled her eyes and turned to watch the new girl, who was--  
“Oh, no.” Kevin voiced what they were all thinking. The new girl was going to sit with Cheryl Blossom.  
“Why are all the cute ones crazy?” Betty sighed. Everyone around the table murmured in agreement. This was her crew; her best friend Kevin, his stepsister Josie, her boyfriend Archie, Archie’s best friend Reggie, Kevin’s boyfriend Jughead, and Jughead’s best friend Toni. None of them knew each other that well before coming to the ward, but now they were closer than seemed possible.  
Betty just hoped it would last when they got out. If they got out.

“Veronica,” the nurse began once everyone was seated around the circle of chairs for group therapy, “since you’re new, you can go first. Then we’ll go clockwise from you around the circle. Sound good?”  
Everyone who cared nodded.  
“I’m Veronica,” said the new girl. “I’ve never done this before.”  
“Tell us why you’re here,” the nurse prompted.  
“I have bulimia,” Veronica said. “Now what?” She added after a pause.  
“Tell us how you’re doing,” the nurse explained. “Share anything you’re comfortable talking about. Remember, you’ll have a private one-on-one session with a psychiatrist after this.”  
“I’m not doing great,” Veronica began. “My dad caught me coughing up dinner and shipped me right here. He sent a car. He couldn’t even be bothered to take me himself. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my mom.”  
Betty was surprised; most people weren’t that honest, especially not on their first day.  
Veronica went on. “He never wanted me--he never wanted kids, but me in particular. That’s what it feels like, anyway. He never wanted a bisexual bulimic for a daughter. He never wanted anything but money.”  
She paused to wipe away a tear, and Betty was struck by how the truth could look beautiful sometimes, even when it was tragic. Veronica wasn’t beautiful--red-rimmed eyes, lank hair, sallow skin, bony frame--but her candor was.  
“Thank you, Veronica,” the nurse said gently. “Cheryl?”  
Betty tuned her out. Cheryl always trumped up her problems so she wouldn’t have to go home--not that she needed to. Her life was bad enough without embellishment.  
They went around the circle until they got to Betty, who was sitting exactly opposite Veronica.  
“Elizabeth?” The nurse said.  
“Betty,” Betty corrected. “I’m here for trying to kill my brother. I thought he was someone else pretending to be him. I also have bulimia and ADHD.”  
“How are you doing?” The nurse prompted.  
Betty pretended to smile as she replied, “Fine.”  
The nurse sighed. She knew Betty was lying. Everyone did.  
Betty let other people talk for the rest of the session.

“Ten o’clock,” the orderly called out.  
“Time to go get our heads shrunk,” Jughead said sarcastically, referring to the one-on-one therapy that followed group sessions. Betty snorted. Both of these things, they knew, would be marked on their charts. They’d both been here for over a month. They’d stopped caring when--or if--they’d get to leave.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty and Veronica grow closer throughout the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for the mental illnesses in the notes and swearing.

Veronica sat with Cheryl again at lunch. They chatted animatedly, Veronica finishing half her meal, Cheryl barely touching hers.  
“I just don't get why,” Kevin said. “Cheryl sucks.”  
“Maybe Veronica sucks too,” Reggie suggested.  
Betty smacked his arm. “She doesn't suck,” she snapped. “She's nice.”  
“Betty,” Archie teased, “do you have a crush on the new girl?”  
Betty forced down a blush. “Shut up, Arch,” she mumbled.  
“Cute,” Josie grinned. “I ship it.”  
“Shut up,” she groaned. “I barely know her.”  
“That's when people usually fall in love,” Jughead said.  
“I'm not in love,” Betty sighed.  
Toni grinned. “Not yet.”

Betty tried not to fidget as she sat opposite the social worker in a hard plastic chair. Every day, she went to eval, and every day, she didn't go home.  
She wasn't even sure she wanted to anymore.  
“So, Elizabeth,” the social worker said, “how have you been doing?”  
“Good,” Betty replied, plastering on a smile. “I really feel like I'm improving.”  
“Well,” the social worker said carefully, “that's not what I've been hearing from your carers.”  
Fuckers, Betty thought, but what she said was, “That's interesting.”  
The social worker glanced down at her chart and her eyes widened a little. Betty sighed internally. “I'm never going home, am I?” She murmured.  
The social worker smiled. “Not yet.”

Betty focused on her feet hitting the treadmill, the even, measured sound and feeling vibrating up her legs. It was easier than remembering the social worker’s sad smile as she confirmed Betty’s fears.  
“Easy, Cooper!” An orderly shouted, and she slowed down from eight miles an hour to six, but kept the incline where it was.  
Not yet, she'd said, as if it weren't her job to tell Betty when, exactly, yet was.  
“Rec’s over!” The orderly called over the noise of the gym, and machines and their occupants slowed and quieted. Betty hopped off the treadmill, heading over to where she’d left her sweatshirt and jeans after changing into workout clothes. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, all sweaty blonde curls and drained blue eyes.  
What a fucking mess.

There wasn't a lecture that day, so Betty worked on Algebra and listened to Mitski, sharing an earbud and answers with Kevin in the lounge. They finished their math and chatted quietly for the rest of the hour.  
“Five o’clock,” the orderly announced.  
“Fuck,” Betty muttered. Visitation. An hour of sitting quietly with a book she wasn’t reading, trying not to stare at the door for a family that was never going to come.  
Betty was about to begin pretending to read when a tall, striking woman with a long, dark blowout and a bag more expensive than an average Ivy Leage’s tuition entered wearing a black flared coat and knee-high black boots and headed straight for where Veronica was sitting, trailed by two buff men in suits that appeared to be security guards.  
“Is that Hermione Lodge?” Kevin whispered from where he was beside Betty, acting like his dad would ever visit. “Hiram Lodge’s wife? Didn’t he work for the mob or something?”  
Betty shrugged.  
“Holy shit,” Archie breathed. The woman--Hermione, Betty supposed--sat down next to Veronica on a stained khaki canvas loveseat decorated with plum-colored pillows and the guards took up position on either side of them. Veronica and Hermione, who Betty guessed was her mother, began chatting away. It was the happiest Betty had seen Veronica since breakfast.  
Speaking of which, Cheryl, too, was watching Veronica with hawkish precision. Her family despised her, everyone knew, and she didn’t even pick up a lie during visitation the way Betty did. She just watched, and she was rich enough for the orderlies to ignore it.  
“What the hell?” Jughead muttered. “This isn't adding up.  
“Oh, please don't make this a mystery,” Toni sighed.  
Betty let their squabble fade into the background. All she could see was Veronica, head back and eyes shining, laughing.

For some reason, Veronica didn't sit with Cheryl at dinner. She came over to Betty’s table and said, “Can I sit?”  
Kevin was the first to respond. “Definitely.”  
“Cheryl won't talk to me,” she explained. “I think she's mad I got a visitor.”  
“Your mom?” Archie asked.  
Veronica nodded. “I'm so glad she came. I never got to say goodbye.”  
“How's your first day been so far?” Josie asked.  
“Okay,” Veronica replied. “I got diagnosed with BPD.”  
“Welcome to the personality disorder gang,” Jughead said.  
“We’re making buttons,” Reggie added.  
Veronica smiled. The table sectioned off into smaller conversations; Jughead and Toni, Reggie and Archie, Kevin and Josie. Soon, it was just Betty and Veronica, sitting together at the end of the table.  
“So what's wrong with you?” Veronica asked. “You didn't say much during group.”  
“I'm bulimic too,” Betty replied, “and paranoid and ADHD and a self-harmer.”  
“Damn,” Veronica grinned. “You beat me. And everyone else?”  
“Archie’s here for PTSD following an emotionally manipulative relationship with his music teacher,” Betty explained. “He's also anorexic. Reggie, his best friend, also has an eating disorder and recently got diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder.”  
“Is that different from schizophrenia?” Veronica asked.  
“A little,” Betty replied. “Toni has schizophrenia, and PTSD after a sexual assault. Jughead, her best friend, got committed after a suicide attempt and has antisocial personality disorder, too. Kevin, Jug’s boyfriend, has depression and dependent personality disorder. Josie, Kev’s stepsister, has anxiety and histrionic personality disorder.”  
“What's that?” Veronica asked.  
Betty paused before replying, “It's like...bipolar on steroids. Flip-flopping emotions, attention-seeking behavior, distorted views on relationships. It gets messy.”  
“And dependent?” Veronica went on.  
“They're clingy, possessive, and get separation anxiety easily,” Betty explained.  
“What are you saying about me?” Kevin asked, poking his tongue out at Betty.  
“Just listing the symptoms of your personality disorder,” Betty said. “Go back to your gossip.”  
He did.  
Betty and Veronica talked until seven, when they were herded along with the rest of the kids into the group room with its circle of chairs and smell of bleach.  
Veronica shared less this time, just her new diagnosis and how glad she was to have seen her mom.  
Betty wasn't paying attention to much except Veronica, so she jumped when her name got called.  
“What did you do today?” The nurse asked.  
Betty glanced at Veronica, who smiled encouragingly. “I made a friend."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked!

**Author's Note:**

> More chapters to come! Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
